Do teammates fully trust Justin Tucker now?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2013-12-17 01:50

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Justin Tucker is feeling it. The Ravens kicker, fresh off his 61-yard, game-winning field goal last week, is confident he can hit the green of that monster par-5 in 2. Or, in football terms, be good from even farther away than the NFL-record 64 yards.

"If I pulled out the 8-degree driver — on a day when I'm feeling real fresh — I could probably hit one from 70 yards,'' Tucker told USA Today. "I hit one from 70 yards in pregame in Detroit this past Monday night.''

Tucker realizes he’s not going to be regularly trotted out to try from that distance.

"The reality is a situation like that will come up once in a blue moon,” he said. “But if you have that club in your bag, you never know when you're going to need to use it.''

Because NFL rules call for the opposing team to get the ball from the spot of a missed kick, a failed 70-yarder would give your opponent the ball at your 40-yard line. Suppose this happened near the end of a tie game. The other team could immediately try a 58-yard field goal after your miss.

Under ideal conditions, Tucker said he could kick it even longer.

"In practice, I've hit from 79 yards,'' Tucker said. "That was in Denver before our opener in September. The weather was perfect; the field was good. With the altitude in the Rocky Mountains, the ball jumps off your foot.”